Inside Pitch: Jessi Warren Explores the “Four Letter Word of Sports”… the YIPS

Extra Inning Softball correspondent Jessica Warren was a college All-American at Florida State and, in 2018, the third baseman helped the Seminoles win the NCAA D1 National Championship.

After college, Jessi has been a professional player with the USSSA Pride and competed in Athletes Unlimited also.

Click HERE to read about Jessi’s thoughts about the Noles magical run five years ago…

In today’s “Inside Pitch,” she discusses a phenomenon that hits athletes sometimes where, out of the blue, what they’ve done so well for so long becomes almost impossible to accomplish.

One of the most famous cases on the diamond involved former MLB pitcher Rick Ankiel, who details his journey in a book called: The Phenomenon: Pressure the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life.

The book is described by Amazon as:

“… the story of how St. Louis Cardinals prodigy Rick Ankiel lost his once-in-a-generation ability to pitch — not due to an injury or a bolt of lightning, but a mysterious anxiety condition widely known as “the Yips.” It came without warning, in the middle of a playoff game, with millions of people watching. And it has never gone away.

Yet the true test of Ankiel’s character came not on the mound, but in the long days and nights that followed as he searched for a way to get back in the game. For four and a half years, he fought the Yips with every arrow in his quiver: psychotherapy, medication, deep-breathing exercises, self-help books, and, eventually, vodka.

And then, after reconsidering his whole life at the age of 25, Ankiel made an amazing turnaround: returning to the Major Leagues as a hitter and playing seven successful seasons.”

Certainly, we all hope no one goes through the Yips experience, but it’s always good to have the knowledge of what it is in case a teammate, or even yourself, passes through it…

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As most know, I am around the game of softball a lot. Whether it be playing, watching, or coaching, it’s in my blood.

Throughout my career in the game of softball I’ve heard people talk about it, known people who have had it, and have seen what it can do to a player mentally and physically.

What is it?

It is the YIPS.

Although I have never experienced it—knock on wood!— from my understanding of the people I know that have had it or still do have it, is that it’s something that just happens and isn’t able to be controlled at certain times.

Here’s video of Rick Ankiel when he threw five consecutive wild pitches in a 2000 MLB playoff game:

The definition word for word that I looked up on mayoclinic.com is:

“The yips are a type of focal dystonia, a condition that causes involuntary muscle contractions during a specific task. It’s most likely related to overuse of a certain set of muscles, similar to writer’s cramp. Anxiety worsens the effect.”

Notice the last sentence:

“Anxiety worsens the effect.”

Who is this anxiety person? And why can’t he or she just leave us alone?

A lot of the times when athletes in our game have the yips, they tend to become so anxious and focused on that entirely that they overthink to the point of distraction, and their ability to execute a skill, such as throwing—something they’ve done their whole life—is impaired.

There are so many theories I’ve read up on about how you can get the yips, but there is very little known about how it starts or develops.

A lot of people have said that it is a mental thing.

There has been some research done on the yips and quotes from an article written by Nick Siegel called “The Theory Behind the Yips in Baseball” says:

“What has been shown in research with yips-affected athletes is that there are clear neurological and physiological differences between a yipped-up athlete and the rest.”

In my opinion, I think the yips is fear… starting with, say a bad throw, that is then turned into a mental issue that was caused by a few mechanical errors. That fear then creates anxiety and throws off mechanics that then causes the yips.

I’ve been a mental case a few times in the game of softball, and I think there are a lot of things that can help with mental problems that show up in our game.

The biggest way to help is to train your mental side of the game and work on breathing techniques to calm your mind. If you have the yips, take it head on, and acknowledge what’s going on.

There have been a few people who feel that the yips have a direct correlation to mentally weak individuals, but guess what? Not many people actually think that and you’re NOT weak if you go through this.

And, importantly, be assured it’s okay to talk to someone about it if this mysterious phenomenon becomes present and an issue in your game.

Send any thoughts, questions or story ideas you’d be interested in Jessi writing about to: info@extrainningsoftball.com